Stack Training System - 2023 Forum Member Review

[gavinski91]

I know on the SuperSpeed test we had a couple of us experience injuries from training. Anyone run into that issue here with the Stack?

[twyatt700]

I know on the SuperSpeed test we had a couple of us experience injuries from training. Anyone run into that issue here with the Stack?

I have been dealing with a little soreness on the left oblique and hip, but it’s gotten better the last few weeks. I did get hurt with super speed but haven’t have the same issues with stack. I might be better at working up and stretching too. I think the app structure with the rest time and queue’s for how much effort for each swing helps too


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[twyatt700]

Finished up last night after I played 18 holes! Also did the priming workout before the round. The swing on the course felt shaky at times but I also had some of my farthest drives ever on several holes. Considering that most drives would either plug or roll back a yard upon landing I was pretty thrilled. I had at least 4-5 drives that carried 260+ and one was 285 carry. Considering it was 42 degrees out with some wind and overcast I was very happy! Still shot an 85 which is actually my high score on the handicap currently! I would say the stack has definitely translated to the course for me. I found my bad drives/swings were when I was trying to swing fast, when I just made my “normal” swing the ball definitely jumped off the face and had that extra 10-20 yards. Towards the end of the round I was more dialed in with the irons and saw about a club length more with 7w- gap wedge. Basically was hitting the 7 w as far as my 3 w and the same throughout the bag.
I had two 7w travel 240 on the air which would have been great if they weren’t on a par 5 and par 3 that I was 220 out. Also hit the 3w 260 into the drink on a long par 5 that I’m normally very safe with that shot in the summer. My hope was to be just as far as I would be during the sumner and I achieved that goal and exceeded it at times. Definitely am excited to do some of the priming sessions with balls and hit the next program!

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[Jlocke22]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:34 AM, hckymeyer said:

I played yesterday in calm conditions and 55 degree temps.  I was about where I usually am on the course, no nuke drives but didn't feel like the cold stole any distance.  So I guess that's a good thing?

So I will touch on this in my review as well, but I do think the gains shown on the graphs you are guys are looking at are misleading.  During foundations for the first half we are swinging at "full intent"  That means the hardest you would actually swing at a real golf ball.  Pretend you really need to mash a ball but keep it in play.  

The 2nd half of the foundations program almost all the swings are "Max intent".  This is just flat out as fast as you can swing the club.  The baseline stat being used is your actual driver swing from the initial check in.  The highest number you are seeing is based off a max intent swing with 195g weights on the stack club.  

After I finished foundations there is another check in where you will be swinging your actual driver.  With that check in I was 3mph faster than my baseline.  

I say all of that, to say this.  Temper your expectations a little bit between training sessions and on course performance.  You look at the 122mph number and start thinking "I can drive every par 4", then you do the check in and realize I went from 109-110mph to 112-113mph.  

So with a consistent strike that 3mph would gain me maybe 5-6 yards off the tee.  Here is a picture of my driver face through 11 holes yesterday...

As you can probably guess that 5 yds I may gain through swing speed is being completely eaten up by where on the face I strike the ball. 

So all I can say is "patience young grasshopper" the distance will come.  However my course closes for the winter on Sunday (my last round starts at 10:52am)  I've had a relatively small gain in speed but it's 40-50 degrees here at best and I'm wearing layers to play.  I'm really not going to be able to tell any on course distance gains until it gets nice again next spring.

I am a few programs in but it is an up and down process. I have found that sprinkling in some of the "special sessions" that include on ball training have helped. I have also done on the side every 3-4 sessions or so my own "special session" where I use spray or impact tape and hit 15-20 drives at cruising speed and not caring about mechanics but just focusing on club face impact and then after getting that dialed in, doing the same process with MAX out, not caring where the ball goes but also focusing on impact at speeds higher than normal. I am at different speeds but have found that whatever happens during those sessions your brain and body start to figure it out on their own and improve. After a few times of doing that after my first program and starting my second my on course cruising speed was higher vs max previously with no ball and clubface control greatly improved. Just a tip that may work for others! In the end its all about gaining speed and increasing both your floor and max but we obviously want to see results on the course and that helped me a ton by kind of separating "speed drills" and contact. 

[twyatt700]

[mention=120271]skraeling[/mention] I haven't written up my review yet, but I'm like you, I've never done any type of Speed Training. This really intrigued me, especially seeing the positive results of Padraig Harrington & Matt Fitzpatrick.  
TheStack training is really cool, from the warm-up to the sessions.  
I do believe this training helped.  I'm finding my woods: Driver, 3wd & Rescue hitting crisper shots. 
Another big take on TheStack, for me, was helping with the swing.  It really helped me identify some bad swing habits:  swing too long, rolling my hands during take away & releasing club too early.  It's amazing how, during regular play, you can identify quicker when something doesn't feel right. 
It's added a pep in the step!  

I felt the same thing yesterday! I could better identify my mechanics in the swing and adjust to the feeling that would get me more speed in the training. That adjustment was then resulting in a more consistent and solid ball strike.


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[hckymeyer]

4 hours ago, gavinski91 said:

I know on the SuperSpeed test we had a couple of us experience injuries from training. Anyone run into that issue here with the Stack?

I have nagging pain, but I don't know that it's from Stack.  It could be, but I can't pinpoint any one thing that caused it and honestly I can't remember when it started.  It's all on my right side...thumb, middle/ring finger knuckles and right shoulder.

[GregGarner]

22 hours ago, gavinski91 said:

I know on the SuperSpeed test we had a couple of us experience injuries from training. Anyone run into that issue here with the Stack?

I had two different injuries during the test period, but I truly don’t believe either were due to the Stack. The first one was a low back issue that I’ve dealt with off and on for almost 4 years. The second was a weird shoulder/upper back issue that happened on the last day of a 72-hole golf trip. I did a Stack session between rounds 2 and 3, but something in my shoulder twinged at the very end of my warmup before round 4 and it took about 3 weeks to normalize. 

[twyatt700]

I have nagging pain, but I don't know that it's from Stack.  It could be, but I can't pinpoint any one thing that caused it and honestly I can't remember when it started.  It's all on my right side...thumb, middle/ring finger knuckles and right shoulder.

Sounds like some sort of nerve impingement, probably thoracic outlet syndrome.


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[Rearviewmirror]

I'm just back from the range and had an amazing session. I did the speed priming with balls special program, then did some work on sweetspot with foot spray.

It's easy to say I was definitely hitting some of the longest I have ever hit today - and that was with range balls. TopTracer was showing 260+ carry a few times and I was getting clubhead speed at 104mph a few times (when I did the driver baseline it was only 93mph). 

It was really interesting doing the priming session right before hitting, as it focuses on max intent swings (hitting a 102mph average for the session) - which for me were all 30+ yard hooks. When I finished the priming session and focused on more of my "regular" swing, I was comfortably hitting 101mph and seeing arrow straight drives.

I'm playing a round on Monday, so I'll report back. For reference I've only done 3x of the foundations sessions so far. The best way to describe it is as if a speed governor has been taken off my swing.

[tdroma98]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:13 AM, Shrek74 said:

I wonder if this has anything to do with your Stiff Flex driver shaft not being stout enough to close the head at impact on those Max Speed swings. Not sure if you plan to use that swing at all on course, but if you do it might be worth looking for a used X-Flex in your shaft model with the Optifit hosel and give it a test.

It's great to hear that not only have you gotten more distance, but it sounds like the Stack System has helped with your accuracy and consistency. For a lot of people, it may well be worth it just for that.

@Shrek74 just got back into town, hadn't seen your post till now.  Good question about the Stiff Flex and Max Speed.  I really think it has to do with balance and swing, meaning I might be falling back in live play, when trying to swing at Max Speed vs the golf shaft.  

I'm playing tomorrow morning and will give the Max Swing a try again and try to take not of my balance.  My bad habit when trying to swing hard, is to come out of my spine angle & stand up more, which causes to pull my upper body & chest back, rather than have my right shoulder stay low through the wing (as a right handed player).   At least for me, TheStack training has really exposed my flaw, Standing up during down swing & coming out of the swing.  I also hadn't tried the Max Swing with driver at 10 degree loft vs 9 degree previously. 

[Rearviewmirror]

Back from my first course experiment after the very positive driving range session. It was definitely a bit of a mixed bag today. I warmed up with the typical Speed Priming with Balls, and on the course I saw some really nice lasers that went dead straight, then also some some snap hooks (my miss when trying to do Max swings with balls). It was also around 40º for the entirety of the round.

I will say, on the shots that I connected with that went where I was aiming them I was seeing probably 10-12yds of better distance than my typical driver average, but I think I would need a more consistent round to be able to say how Stack has affected things. The course I played on today also required you to drive a cart, and I did feel cold/not warmed up between driver shots - so I'm honestly not sure it was an amazingly representative round of golf. 

[Dooby]

Has anyone been able to compare this to the superspeed product? 

[GregGarner]

30 minutes ago, Dooby said:

Has anyone been able to compare this to the superspeed product? 

That will be part of my final review. TL;DR I think it compares very favorably. Not to give away tooooo much, but I think it's a question of budget...

[GregGarner]

I found this to be hilarious. I'm not sure what happened on my final progress check, but basically it was abysmal. And since the final report out is based solely on your baseline results, it looks like The Stack actually cost me distance. I can say, definitively, it did not cost me distance. But now my baseline for my next program is artificially low. So I guess the next program is going to make The Stack look really good?

 

To be honest, I think some of this was my own doing. I was trying to sneak it in after work but before dark and I think I was rushing. I had a great warmup including my driver cruising at 108 with a couple touching 112 with >160 ball speed (which is not bad for a range ball). I certified my warmup at >10 mph more than what it wanted. And then when I went to air swings with the driver (no contact), it was like I aged 20 years (sorry, guys). I kept messing with the radar thinking surely it was wrong. The fastest air swing with the driver for the baseline testing was 102! Honestly thought about just scrapping the whole session and trying again tomorrow or Wednesday when I wasn't racing the sunset.  

Edited November 20 by GregGarner

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 hour ago, Dooby said:

Has anyone been able to compare this to the superspeed product? 

I used superspeed for over a year and much prefer The Stack product because of the app experience.  I'll be writing more about that as I'm sure other testers who have used both will as well, but simple put, it is a game changer for helping me get the most out of my swing training.

[hckymeyer]

4 hours ago, Dooby said:

Has anyone been able to compare this to the superspeed product? 

I owned Superspeed for over a year, but to be completely honest I did exactly one session.  Then tweeted at them about their making an app to track sessions.  They said it was coming soon.  I was annoyed with stopping every swing to write down the numbers.  I know not a big deal for some but much like tying shoes is for suckers when BOA exists, I would prefer to just say the speed out loud and have something automatically track it.  So I decided I'd just wait to start until the app was ready, but it's a year and half later and still no app.

Bottom line I much prefer The Stack.

[Dooby]

Thanks for all the responses. So far it seems like this review has been very productive for the testers. This review thread makes it hard to not be shopping for the Stack deals this winter...

[Getoffmylawn]

4 hours ago, Dooby said:

Thanks for all the responses. So far it seems like this review has been very productive for the testers. This review thread makes it hard to not be shopping for the Stack deals this winter...

I’ll say it again, if you do, circle back to this thread and get a referral code.  The person that refers you gets an additional year of app access, and you get a good discount via the referral link they send you.

[Dooby]

31 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

I’ll say it again, if you do, circle back to this thread and get a referral code.  The person that refers you gets an additional year of app access, and you get a good discount via the referral link they send you.

I've received a few private messages with referral links already haha

[hckymeyer]

13 minutes ago, Dooby said:

I've received a few private messages with referral links already haha

Anybody check if the referral codes stack on Black Friday deals yet?  I would guess no but it's always worth a shot.

And yes for anyone in the market all of us testers have the ability to generate a referral code.  Feel free to PM any of us for one if you need it.